LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



^^'/ 




Sketch of the Life and Public Services 



W I N F I E L D S. HANCOCK, 



O. C. GARDINER, 

M 
Fornte7-ly Associate Editor of the Democratic Review. 



John Polhemu?, Publisher, 

102 Nassau St.,N. Y. 



»1 i**r 



WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK, 

CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT 



THE UNITED STATES. 



ELECTION, NOVEMBER, 1880. 



The very name of the subject of this sketch is suggestive of patriotic spirit and 
heroism. General Hancocii is descended directly from the patriots of tlie Revolu- 
tionary period. Although not of the same family, and his ancestors may not 
have been nearly related to those of John Hancock, who headed the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence in 1776, the descendants of both families have in- 
herited similar mental and moral qualities. 

ANCESTRY — HEREDITARY QUALITIES. 

Major-General Winfield Scott Hancock was born at Montgomery Square, Mont- 
gomery township and county, Pa., Feb. 14, 1824. He has just passed his 56th 
year, and is in the full vigor of his physical and mental powers. His ancestral 
line on his mother's side leads back to the English and Welsh ; on his father's 
side to the English, Irish and Scotch. 

His father's family Avere originally Episcopalians and Friends. His mother's 
family were always Baptists, as far back as any memorial remains. From the 
days of "William Penn they have lived in Pennsylvania, and for the last one hun- 
dred and fifty years in Avhat is now Montgomery county. 

The General descended direct from the Hancocks who came to this country in 
the early period of its settlement. In the Revolution his ancestors on both sides 
were engaged on sea or land in the struggle for liberty. His grandfather on his 



his father's side was captured at sea, claimed as a British subject, and imprisoned 
in one of the military prisons of England. 

His mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Hawksworth. Her grandfather served 
in the Continental armies, and died soon after the close of the Revolution from 
exposure in the rigors of the service. Her father went into the Revolutionary- 
ranks when only a lad of fifteen, and returned to the battle tield five times as a 
member of different regiments. At Taneytown, Md., his command was called 
upon to escort Biu-goyne's prisoners, captured at Saratoga, to Valley Forge. For 
his services in the Revolution he received a pension during life. 

An incident is related of his mother's family, showing the bravery of its female 
members when exposed to the dangers of savage warfare. 

During the French and Indian wars before the Revolution, in the absence of the- 
the men on military service, the Indians attacked their house and drove them to 
the attic. They defended themselves with great heroism, chopping off the fingers 
of the savages with hatchets, as they attempted to climb up to kill or capture- 
them. 

GENERAL IIANCOCK's FATHER — HIS INFLUENCE OVER HIS SON. 

General Hancock's father, Benjamin F. Hancock, was born in Philadelphia,, 
and at the early age of fifteen, accompanied our military forces to the banks of 
the Delaware river in the war of 1812-15. Being a youth of studious habits,, 
and strong aspirations for solid attainments, he received a fair common school 
and classical education, and studied law. He was of that class of young men 
who continually advance, and in his maturity became a lawyer of eminence, and 
a citizen of sterling character and wide influence. He removed to Norristown, the 
county seat of Montgomery, when his son, Winfield Scott, was four years old. 
At Swede's Ford, on the site of Norristown, Washington crossed the Schuylkill 
river in his campaign of Valley Forge. In sight of these historic hills Hancock 
passed his early years. 

His father was a man of strong intellect and of very broad, patriotic views. For 
more than a third of a century he was deferred to and reverenced by the commun- 
ity in which he lived. Being an able counsellor, his legal opinions were sought 
by the profession botli at Norristown and in Philadelphia. His wife, the mother 
of General Hancock, was a woman of strong character and greatly respected 
among the people of Norristown and in the clmrch. She was long a devout mem- 
ber of the Baptist Church. His father became a constant attendant with her, and 
was liberal in the support of the service. He is remembered for many years as 
the able Moderator of the May anniversary meetings of this denomination in 
Philadelphia. 

It is related of him that at the age of thirty, having become a constant smoker, 
and accustomed to take a social glass with his legal friends, as was the custom of 
that day, he resolved, in view of the effect upon his physical powers, his char- 
acter and maturer manhood, to cease the use of both forever. Having a liberal 
supply of cigars, he placed the bundles upon the mantel shelf of his office, and 
bade his friends as they came to take the last he could oflfer. From that date for- 
ward to the end of his long life he never smoked, or drank intoxicating liquor.. 



TESTIMONY OF AN OLD FRIEND OP HIS FATHER. 

An intelligent gentleman, advanced in years, an old friend of General Han- 
cock's family, who knew his father and mother from boyhood, makes the fol- 
lowing interesting statement concerning them. He says : 

" The father of General Hancock connected himself with the Baptist church 
at Norristown early in its existence, and being a gentleman of prominence, he at 
once took a leading position. He became very much interested in the welfare of 
the young, and was made superintendent of the Sibbath school, and so contin- 
ued for many years. When the church a*: Norri^town grew strong he connected 
himself with a little church across the Scliuylkill river in Bridgeport, and for 
many years aided this church by his money and efforts to maintain its existence. 
and was connected with it when he died. 

"From the origin of the school system of Pennsylvania he was connected with 
its dh-ection until a few years before his death. Tlie efficiency of the public 
schools of Norristown owe much to his ability and persevering efforts. 

• ' He was one of the originators of the water works of Norristown , and was 
President of its board until his death. He was a very prominent man in the 
community, and especially in all good works. His counsel was sought and never 
withheld. As a lawyer he was prudent, safe and careful ; he was more of a 
counsellor than an advocate ; more anxious to promote the interests of his clients 
than to secure his fees. 

" His mother was an earnest, strong woman in intellect and in character, and as 
I remember her when comparatively young, very beautiful ; indeed she carried 
strong evidences of this beauty till near her death, little more than a year ago." 

In regard to General Hancock, he says : 

" Though many who were once foremost to sound his praise, now, through the 
claims of an opposite partisanship, bitterly denounce him as leagued with those 
who sought to overthrow the government ; yet, I feel that the angel of their bet- 
ter natures will yet lead them to see and feel the injustice of their efforts to de- 
feat him in this election. I think he has the masses of the people with him. " 

This full account of General Hancock's parentage is really a part of his own 
life, for he inherited in full measure those strong and elevated traits of character 
which were conspicuous in their lives. In his tender years of childhood and 
boyhood his character was molded by them and the foundation laid for a rich 
growth in moral truth and all that is pure and noble in manhood. In this grow- 
ing period they trained him better than they knew. The seed then sown was, 
under Divine favor, to yield a golden harvest in the great deeds of his manhood,, 
to be recorded in the future history of the country they loved, 

GENERAL HANCOCK'S EARLY HOME— ANECDOTES OP HIS BOYHOOD. 

We quote a brief passage, written fifteen years ago, just after the close of the 
war, about Hancock's home in his boyhood : 

"His parents were very devout; the altar of worship stood like a 
sanctuary within their doors, and every day their children and family bowed 
with them before it ; morning and evening the incense of devotion ascended from 



that house. Nor did this hallowed home influence stop at the threshold. Im- 
pressed on the memory and heart, it went out into the duties of life. * * •'' 
It was in the domain of such a home as this Winfield received his earliest im- 
pressions of character. The uniform record of him in his boyhood, is, that he 
was obedient to his parents, truthful and courteoas, cheerful, social and mauh'. 

" A gentleman sitting one day in his father's office they heard a tumult among 
the boys in the street. 

" ' Come here, my son,' said the father, calling him from the crowd. The boy 
instantly obeyed, his flushed face turned full on his father. 

" ' What is the matter, Winfield ? ' 

" ' Why, that big boy out there tried to whip me, and I wasn't going to let 
him.' " 

" 'But he is a great deal larger than you are, my son.' 

" ' I know he is, father ; but he shan't whip me for all that.' " A juvenile pluck 
which grew into his manhood, and won the day in many hard fought battles. 

The attachment between Winfield and his schoolmates always reflected credit 
upon his youthful tendencies. When Winfield was eleven years old, there came 
to reside with a relative at Norristown, a poor little boy aged nine, whose father 
had died. He became one of Winfield's playmates and by degrees they became 
attached. Winfield had ten pennies to his one, and when they met before or 
after school, Winfield would say: " Johnnj^ I have some pennies ; let us get 
something." He was the youngest and smallest among their company. The boys 
"would sometimes tantalize and threaten him and Winfield would always come to 
the rescue. 

"Look here !" he would say, "you are older and larger than Johnny, and 
ought to be ashamed to take advantage of his age and size." What business is it 
to you Winfield Hancock ? " I will make it my business. Stand your ground 
Johnny. They shan't hurt you. Find one of my size and let little Johnny 
alone ! " His magnanimous courage always carried the day. 

In the course of time Johnny came as a young man to Philadelphia, and by 
industry and enterprise became wealthy, and was chosen a member of its City 
Councils, 

Winfield became a Major-General, and when the city government passed a 
series of resolutions commending the courage, great services and patriotism of 
Major-General Winfield Scott Hancock, it became the duty of little Johnny, John 
W. Everman, Esq., President of the City Council of Philadelphia, to meet him 
as bearer of these resolutions at Washington Capitol. With what cordiality the 
two playmates met, the reader may judge, for when the formal tender was made, 
General Hancock said : 

" We meet here, Mr. Everman, in our official capacities; but I desire to see 
more of you. I must leave soon for my post in the army. Come and visit me 
there and be sure and make my headquarters your home during your stay." 

And he did meet him, when he was recruiting the army after he w^as wounded, 
both at Harrisburg and in Philadelphia, and when the freedom of the city was 
given to General Hancock, Mr. Everman opened to him that sacred room — [ ai 
honor seldom conferred) in which the Declaration of Independence was signed. 



Magnanimous and true in friendship in boyhood and alike so in the maturity 
of manhood. 

He was always regarded a leader among the boys at Norristown. By common 
consent he was selected as Captain of their Home Guard of Juvenile Soldiers. 
His mother and the matrons of the place equipped them, and cheered the m on 
their marches — the germ of a grander leadership in saving the Union. 



HIS EDUCATION — IN ITS METHOD LIKE THAT O? HAMILTON. 

Hancock's early education up to his sixteenth year, was at the Norristown 
Academy. When only fifteen, on account of his name, and of his ability as a 
student, he was seleoted to read the Declaration of Independence at the national 
anniversary. It was read with an expression of its meaning and a spirit which 
surprised the audience. 

His father was at this time, warmly engaged in the cause of education and su- 
pervised all Winfield's studies and reading. 

Though educated under dissimilar circumstances, we find a significant parallel 
in the early training, aims, and methods of Alex. Hamilton. 

Hamilton at the early age of 13, entered the counting house of Nicolas Cruger. 
He was studious and exact, and soon showed special maturity of thought and 
judgment. His knowledge of practical affairs was evea then remarkable. He 
was untiring in his industry, did but one thing at a time, and that with all his 
might, and did it thoroughly. This principle entered into all his studies and 
literary pursuits. At this time he wrote to a young friend : 

" My youth now excludes hope of preferment, but I imaii to prepare for futurity ."" 

And when the time came, as come it did, he was prepared to make rapid strides 
to the post of honor and fame, and to write his name upon the enduring record 
of history, 

HE ENTERS WEST POINT. 

Hancock's father had designed his son for the legal profession, but unforeseen 
and Providential circumstances changed this purpose. By a thorough method of 
preparation not unlike that pursued by Hamilton, he was prepared and entered 
the Military Academy at West Point at the age of 16 with credit. 

His father had inculcated these habits with great persistence, and had wisely 
directed the order of his course of study. When he left the paternal roof for the 
Military Academy his father gave him a copy of Blackstone's commentaries, and 
enjoined him to read it carefully before his class entered upon the study of Kent 
and Story on the Constitution, which formed part of the course. With this re- 
quest he scrupulously complied. 

Thus with his future destiny unforeseen, as it was with Hamilton, he was early 
made familiar with the principles of constitutional and common law. 

At West Point he maintained his studious habits. Here he was the asso- 
ciate of young men, who like himself, were destined to be prominent in the 
history of the country. Among his fellow cadets were U. S. Grant, George B. 



McClellan, John F. Reynolds (who fell at Gettysburg), John S. Reno (who fell at 
South Mountain), Buruside, Franklin, W. F. Smith, all afterward distinguished 
Union generals. Among those who became noted in the cause of the sou'h were 
Longstrcet, " Stonewall " Jackson, A. P. Hill, D. II. Hill and others. Hancock 
took higher than average rank as a scholar and graduated number 18 in a large 
class, June 30, 1844. He received the commission of Brevet Second Lieutenant 
of the Sixth Infantry, and served two years with his regiment in the Indian Ter- 
ritoiy. 

SERVICES IN MEXICO, FLORIDA, KANSAS, NEBRASKA, UTAH AND CALIFORNIA. 

In the Mexican war, 1847, he found the first opportunitj^ for distinction. This 
he first won at tlie National Bridge. He was afterward distinguLshed for gallantry 
at San Antonio, Contreras, Cherubusco, Molino del Rey and at the assault and 
capture of the city of Mexico. 

His first promotion was Aug. 20, 1847, "for gallant and meritorious con. 
duct," the official report of which was complimentary in the highest degree. 

From 1848 to 1849 he served as regimental quartermaster stationed at Jefferson 
Barracks; from thence to 1855 as adjutant, having received the full rank of first 
lieutenant in 1853. 

He served in the responsible po.sts of quartermastc'r and adjutant more than 
six years The duties of these offices broug'.it into full exercise his system and dis- 
patch in business. 

From June to November, 1855, he acted as assistant adjutant general of the 
Department of the West, headquarters at St. Louis. 

In the Fall of 1855, he was promoted to the rank of captain and assistant quar- 
termaster, and during 1856 and '57 he served on the staff of General Harney in the 
Florida war, and during the Fall of 1857 and in 1858 with Harney in the political 
troubles of Kansas and Nebraska. From there he went with Gen. Harney to 
Utah and California. He rode overland across the continent to the Pacific coast, 
on horseback, accompanying a regiment of infantry and conducting in safety 1,000 
mules and a large quantity of stores to meet the demands of the Indian war in 
Oregon. He was in California in 1858, '59, '60 and ' 61, and in Southern 
California when the news of the firing on Fort Sumter reached him. 

The following words of a military officer very truthfully state Hancock's posi- 
tion at that moment: " When the news of the momentous struggle which the fir- 
ing on Fort Sumter announced to the world to have begun, reached the Pacific 
slope, the intrinsic character of the man at once displayed itself. Southern Cali- 
fornia was almost as little disposed to be loyal as any southern state. Secession 
opinion was everywhere rampant, and there was imminent danger that civil war 
would be inaugurated west as well as east of the Rocky Mountains. Hancock 
declared himself without hesitation." 

He at once requested the Governor of Pennsylvania to assign him to a com- 
mand of volunteers in the pending war. Awaiting the reply in California, his in- 
fluence was of signal service in saving the state. His first speech was a patriotic 
appeal in behalf of the Union, at a meeting at Los Angelos, July 4th, 1861. He 
said, in closing : 



'J 

" Wlio of us can forget tlie names of Lexington, of Monmouth, of Brandy wine 
and Yorktown, and who can regret that lie is a descendant of those who fought 
there for the liberties we now enjoy '? And what flag is it that we now look to as 
the banner that carried us through the great contest, and was honored by the gal- 
lant deeds of its defenders ? The star-spangled banner of America, then embrac- 
ing thirteen pale stars, representing that number of oppressed colonies, now thirty- 
four bright planets, representing that number of great states. * ■» * 
I>et them return to us (those who would secede). We will welcome them as 
brothers who have been estranged, but have come back. We have an interest in 
the battlefields of the Revolution in those states, not second to their own. Our 
forefathers fought there side by side with theirs. Cm they, if they w^ould, thrust 
aside their rights to the memories of the great fields on our soil on which their 
ancestors won renown '? No, they cannot ! God forbid that they shoidd desire 
it. To tho.se who, regardless of those .sacred memories, insist on sundering this 
imion of states, let us, who only wish our birtli right preserved, and whose desire 
it is to be stil 1 citizens of the great country that gave us birth, and to live under 
that flag which has gained for us the glory wc boast of, say this day to those 
among us who feel aggrieved, your rights we will respect, your wrongs we will 
assist you to redress, but the government TesuUing from the union of these states is a, 
priceless heritage, thoA 'ice intend to pneserve and defend to the last extremity." 

He could not brook delay, and at his request General Scott ordered him East for 
active dutj'. On reporting at Washington, he was assigned as chief quarter- 
master oa the staif of General Robert Anderson, the hero of Fort Sumter. Before 
entering on these duties, President Lincoln appointed him a Brigadier-General of 
Volunteers. 

ENTERS THE ARMY OP THE POTOMAC. 

On the 23d of September, 1861, he was assigned to the division of the Army 
of the Potomac, commanded by General W. F. Smith. And now was to 
open before him a career of distinction of which he had never thought. Here 
began that series of brilliant deeds which have endeared him to the American 
people, and written his name upon the enduring record of history. 

In a brief sketch, giving only the outline of his life, it is not possible to describe 
at length the military movements by which he won his succe.ssive victories. It 
will suffice to give the time, place, and general outline only of his great battles, 
which broke the power of the enemy, and turned the tide of war in favor of the 
Union. He entered upon active service in the fall of 1861, with a brigade of 
foiu* splendid regiments — one from New York, one from Pennsylvania, one from 
Maine, and one from Wisconsin. Under the tuition and drill of Hancock, they 
soon acquired the steadiness of the best troops. It was the kind of material with 
which to found his fame ; but of this he thought little. His great object was to 
make them efEective. 

SIEGE OF YORKTOWN — BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG. 

This was his first general engagement. The Army of the Potomac had been trans- 
ported to Fortress Monroe in the latter part of March, 1862. The campaign of the 



10 

Peninsula began at Yorktown, and ended with the seven days' terrible conflict 
before Richmond. 

Hancock's brigade was actively engaged and conspicuous during the entire siege 
of Yorktown, for thirty days up to the 4tli of May. When the line of the Con- 
federates at Yorktown, which extended nearly thirteen miles across the Peninsula 
was evacuated, the Union army rushed on in pursuit. It was stopped twelve miles 
below Yorktown, at a point where the Peninsula contracts to a kind of narrow 
isthmus before Fort Magruder, in front of AVilliamsburg, a strong work, with 
twelve redoul)ts on its right and left for field guns. 

General Sumner was in command. Our army bivouacked in the woods during 
the stormy night, and in the early morn went into position ; Hooker on the left, 
Smith on the right. Hooker advanced his batteries, opening fire upon the fort, 
and by nine o'clock had silenced it. The enemy made a series of determined 
attacks during the day, with the purpose of turning Hooker's left. The main 
body of our army had not come up. It was a bloody conflict, in which Hooker 
lost upwards of two thousand men. Near noon Sumner ordered Hancock to re- 
connoitre iipon our right. With two batteries and a brigade of five regiments 
he made a circuit of at least four miles near to the York river, coming out in the 
rear of the enemy's left flank and line of defense, upon the ravine of Cub Creek 
Dam. Across this ravine, in the distance, was an unoccupied redoubt. It was 
more than a half mile away upon a crest of land, and commanded the plain be- 
tween it and Fort Magrnder. This crest had an easy slope on both sides. 
Crossing on the breast of the dam with his troops and batteries, he quickly occu- 
jjied this redoubt. He saw two redoubts beyond, and putting his batteries into 
position, drove the small force which was in them from their cover. With adequate 
support, the whole rebel army was at his mercy. As the day wore on, and at five 
o'clock no support came, he retired his small force to the slope south of the crest. 
Besides what held the redoubt, he had in line less than two thousand men. The 
lynx-eyed rebel commander knew his own danger, and at that moment two regi- 
ments of Early's troops issued from the woods with the purpose of crushing and 
routing Hancock's force. They came on impetuously, yelling Bull Run! Bull 
Run! That flag is ours! It was a supreme moment for swift, unerring judgment 
and action. Hancock dashed along the line with the order to fix bayonets, and 
the instant the rebel center ueared him, the order to charge was executed with a 
precision, an inspiration and impetuosity that nothing could withstand. Many 
were bayoneted. The rebel center broke, and the whole line retreated, with a 
rebel loss in this brief action of five hundred, and a loss for the Union force of 
one hundred and twenty-nine. Williamsburg was won. Hancock held the key of 
the position, and that night, ere the dawn, the rebel defenses were evacuated, and 
their troops rapidly marching towards the Chickahominy. 

This was the first of a series of very brave, effective and sagacious deeds 
which distinguished Hancock throughout the war, and made him in every 
exigency and at all times one of its most beloved and trusted generals. 



11 

THE SEVEN DATS BEFORE RICHMOND, ANTIETAM, FREDERICKSBURG AND CHAN- 

CELLORSVILLE. 

Hancock's success was due first and always to bis thorough knowledge of mili- 
tary science and masterly skill in military movements. As chief commander 
he would have been great in strategy as he was in tactics — when, where and 
with what forces to attack or to meet the onset of the enemy ; in tactics, in 
the general disposition of forces upon the field of battle, and the clear, quick 
insight, in its progress, of the most effective action to foil, surprise or 
destroy him, he was great and effective. 

His knowledge of human nature, and his belief in the power of example to win 
the confidence of his men added greatly to his strength. He was willing 
always to share the peril of his troops. As a brigade commander he was always 
among his men, riding up and down near the line of battle. As he rose in 
rank and commanded larger bodies he continued the practice. This great 
confidence of his men — for kindred peril in a noble cause begets kindred love — 
enabled him always to hold the most perilous position with tenacity, and when 
the supreme moment came to strike by assault, or charge, his troops would go 
with him or for him, into the very gateway of death, with a resistless momentum 
that swept everything before it. 

Hence, from the battle of Williamsburg, through all the Peninsular Campaign — 
at Golding's Farm, at Garnett's Hill, at Savage Station and at White Oak Swamp, 
he became famous for his tenacity and skillful tactics. He shared in nearly every 
engagement. At White Oak Swamp, under a deadly fire of rebel artillery, after 
three days fighting by day and marching by night, worn with fatigue and 
want of sleep, his brigade successfully assisted in repelling the sharp attacks of 
the rebel infantry through the day, and covered the immense wagon trains of our 
retreating army — a striking proof of its discipline and bravery. 

From there he was transferred northward and took part in August and Sep- 
tember in the campaign in support of Pope. 

On the 17th of September he shared conspicuously in the battle and victory of 
Antietam. And when the gallant Richardson, commander of first division 
Second Army Corps, fell, Hancock was placed in command on the field. From 
this dated his connection with the Second Corps he afterward commanded with 
such renown. 

For his distinguished services in the Peninsular campaign and at Antietam 
he was promoted, Nov. 29, 1862, as Major-General of Volunteers. 

At Fredericksburg, 13th of December, as commander 1st division, 2d corps, he 
took part in the desperate and bloody assault on Maryes Heights. Leading his 
men into the very "slaughter pen" so termed, he received only a slight flesh 
wound, and seemed here, as in many other battles; to bear a charmed life. 

At Chancellorsville, May, 1863, he performed signal service, holding his division 
by his presence at every turn in that disastrous battle. Here his horse was shot 
under him, and he seemed again to bear a charmed life. 



12 

BATTLE or GETTYSBURG, THE CJLMINATmG EVENT OF THE WAR— RESPONSIBLE 
ACTION OF HANCOCK. TURNING THE TIDE OP BATTLE. 

On the 25th of MayPresident Lincoln coafirmed Hancock as permanent com- 
mander of the Second Corps. 

The rebel General Lee had determined to invade the North, but, so far as possible, 
kept his movements a profound secret. Wliere he would strike, or by what sharp 
strategy he would invest Washington, move on Baltimore, or the cities of Penn- 
sylvania, no one knew. 

Early in June, 1863, Maj. Gen. D. N. Couch retired from command of the 
Second Army Corps, and Gen. Hancock succ?edL'd him. Oa the 28th Gen. 
Hooker was relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac by G3n. Meade, 
and at that time the larger pari of it was massod around Meade's headquarters at 
Frederick City, Md. Hancock was on his way from Fredericksburg, Va. (200 
miles), with his corps, marching twenty to thirty miles a day in a broiling summer 
sun, each soldier with a weight of fifty-seven pounds on his back, rivalling his 
fellow, to reach the scene of action — a g.-and march, so perfect Hancock's dis- 
cipline, not an act of vandalism was committed. 

By the 29th, Lee, prece ling our army, ha 1 marched up the Cumberland Valley, 
occupied York and Carlisle, Pa., a part of his fore 3 was at Chambersburg, and a 
part on its way to cross the Susquehanna river at Harrisburg. The Unian army 
must intercept, hurl back and overwhelm him, or the Union cause was lost. 

Lee learning our army was in hot pursuit, and fearing for his line of retreat, 
diverged through South Mountain Range towards Gettysburg, only twenty miles 
distant. Where, and the moment the shock of battle would come Meade did not 
know, but on the 29th advanced his army in three columns towards Gettysburg, 
covering the approaches to Baltimore and Washington. It was not till the eve of 
the 30th that Meade became satistied that Lee had changed his course, and was 
concentrating his forces to meet the Union army. Meade had determined to mass 
his army along the elevations of Pipe Creek, and there give battle ; his headquar- 
ters at Taneytown, his First, Third an 1 Eleventh corps were thrown forward to- 
ward Gettysburg, Reynolds in command. Hancock reached Gen. Meade's head- 
quarters at noon, July 1st, and his corps was massing for a brief rest, Avhen a first 
and second mounted messenger came with tidings that the First and Eleventh 
Corps were fighting, with odds against them, and the gallant Reynolds in com- 
mand had fallen. 

In twenty minutes Hancock with his stafl: was rushing forward, Hancock in 
an ambulance to examine as he rode, the map of Gettysburg and surroundings, 
and with the order to take command of all the Union forces at Gettysburg. 

It .should be here stated that Lee, the rebel General, did not intend to attack or 
to take the oflfensive, but so skillfully to concentrate his 70,000 men and 150 pieces 
of artillery in order of battle, that when the Union army should attack, he could 
overwhelm and route it. 

FIRST DAY AT GETTYSBURG. 

Of this mo.st terrible three days' battle in the annals of warfare, both space and 
want of military knowledge here forbid description, except so far as is needed to 



13 

refer to tlie masterly mind, the heroic acts, and sublime courage shown by Han- 
cock throughout the scene of carnage. After Reynolds fell, Gen. Howard, by 
virtue of his rank, commanded at Gettysburg on the first day of battle till 
Hancock arrived. He had extended his line of battle in a wide curve far north 
and west of the village. The rebel General Rhodes, in throwing forward his divis- 
ion to connect with the left of Hill's troops, secured a commanding position upon 
Oak Hill — the key-point of the entire field — a point below which the right of our 
First Corps and the left of our Eleventh Corps did not closelj' connect. At three 
o'clock in the afternoon, there was a general advance of the rebel force* upon our 
line, when the rebel General Rhodes broke the Union center at this point, by a 
furious attack, disrupted our whole line, throwing our troops back in disorder into 
■Gettysburg. 

As this confused and disordered mass was pouring through Gettysburg, Hancock 
arrived. Of this critical moment of the disrupted condition of our forces and of 
Hancock's opportune arrival, William Swinton, probably the ablest, most ac- 
curate and impartial of the many writers upon the war, says : 

" In such an emergency, it is the personal qualities of the commander alone 
that tell. If, happily, there is in him that mysterious but potent magnetism that 
calms, subdues and inspires, there results one of those sudden moral transforma- 
tions that are among the marvels of the phenomena of battle. This quality Han- 
cock possesses in a high degree, and his appearance soon restored order, out of 
seeming hopeless confusion, which Howard, though an efficient officer, had not 
been able to quell." 

General Meade gave Hancock full power to examine and decide at once the 
most favorable positions for the order of battle. Upon Hancock's representation, 
that Gettysburg was in respect to the natural features of the hills and ridges 
the most advantageous for a defensive battle, he at once ordered all our still out- 
lying forces within a few hours' march, to be concentrated on Gettysburg, and 
with his own headquarters reached it at one o'clock on the morning of the 2d. 

Hancock that night and morning of the 2d selected the ground and placed 
our forces in order of battle, with the celerity which the supreme moment inspired, 
from Cemetery Ridge to Round Top, a distance of three and one-half to four 
miles. The opposing armies had been precipitated into conflict on the 1st sooner 
than the chief commanders expected by the rapid concentration of both armies 
toward the same point, and upon their arrival on the morning of the 2d both were 
committed to a battle. 

Hancock displayed extraordinary skill in selecting the ground and placing our 
forces in the most advantageous position to give battle on the defensive or to 
compel the rebel general to attack. Lee had promised his corps commanders 
that he would not — from the greater peril doubtless in giving battle so far from 
his base — assume the offensive, but would force the Union army to attack. 

Hancock so clearly comprehended the situation, that, while with the modesty of 
true greatness, he assumed no action beyond the order of his chief in command, 
yet counselled with him and under Mm, shared the gravest responsibility in so 
arranging the order of this great battle that General Lee was compelled to take the 
greater peril of the offensive, or the peril of retreat. 



14 

SECOND DAY OF GETTYSBTJRG. 

On the morning of the 2d the two great opposing armies were arranged upon 
the scene of action. Lee, finding the Union army in order for defense, proceeded 
to place his forces in the order of attack, but it was near 4 o'clock in the afternoon 
ere this was completed. After some reconnoisance, his sagacious eye seized upon 
the left center of our line, held by Sickles' corps, as the point of attack. This 
general had, on his own responsibility, says Swinton, changed and advanced his 
position in the original ordained line of battle ; though with laudable intent, it ex- 
posed a salient or angle of his line at the peach orchard, which gave the enemy 
the key-point to his whole line. On this Lee made a ferocious attack by 
Hood's and Anderson's divisions and carried his entire left. It fell upon that part 
of Sickles' line which stretched from the peach orchard toward Round Top. When 
Sickles was wounded, Hancock took command of both the Third and Second 
Corps. 

Then came the terrific struggle for the possession of the original line of battle, 
in which Hancock, with wonderful skill and quick comprehension of the situation, 
displayed all his gigantic strength in saving the day. 

When Sickles' line was cut in twain, and his left and the forces that moved to 
his support were thrown back, the hostile forces of Lee poured through the inter- 
val to strike Humphrey's division, which joined. So furiously and hotly did the 
enemy attack that the gallant Humphrey was compelled to fall back, though 
slowly and obstinately, yet at the cost, says Swinton, of the terrible sacrifice of 
half his division — the remnants of many regiments making hardly more than an 
ordinary battalion. Hancock was everywhere present ; for many charges of the 
rebel forces there followed a fierce counter-charge by Hancock, and the enemy at 
length gave way. 

While this terrific scene was enacted, Lee was also attacking Cemetery Ridge 
and Gulp's Hill, to prevent Union reinforcements against his chief assault. The 
rebel General Hood, having outflanked Sickles' left, pushed boldly for the rocky 
summit of Round Top — the key of the battle ground. But fortunately — all honor 
to General Warren, engineer-in-chief — four regiments, Massachusetts, Pennsyl- 
vania, New York and Maine, with the utmost boldness and resolution came to the 
rescue. "Here," says Swinton, "there ensued one of those mortal struggles rare 
in war, when the hostile forces, clenching in close contest, illustrate whatever 
there is of savage and terrible in battle." 

Lee had carried the whole front of the Third Corps, although it was regained 
during the day, and had thrust himself within the breastworks on the right. If he 
could hold the position, it would enable him to take the Union army's entire line 
in reverse, while our loss had already reached the frightful aggregate of 30,000 
men. 

But Sickles' line was not an essential part of our main line, for that on the crest 
of the hills was still intact. 

THIRD DAY. 

During the night we had accumulated a powerful artillery against the point of our 
breastworks on Gulps Hill, entered by the enemy on the second day. When at 4 
o'clock in the morning we opened a heavy artillery fire, a large force of infantry 



15 

also entered upon the struggle to regain our position. After four hours contest 
and a final spirited charge of an entire division, the original line was reestablished 
on Gulp's Hill. 

Gen. Lee now changed his tactics and resolved to assault our center. At the 
close of this morning struggle, there was ominous silence for several hours. But 
this betokened a terrible shock to come. Lee's hope was to sweep resistance from 
the slopes of the hills before his assaulting columns moved forward, and by noon 
he had one hundred and twenty guns in position. Gen. Hunt, our chief of ar- 
tillery had crowned the ridge we occupied with eighty guns. " At one o'clock," 
says Swinton, " tlie ominous silence was broken by a terrific outburst from this 
massive enginery of war." Holding fire briefly our batteries opened, " and thus 
from ridge to ridge was kept up for nearly two hours a Titanic combat of artil- 
lery, that caused the solid fabric of the hills to labor and shake with the mad 
clamor of two hundred guns. 

"Our troops crouched behind such slight cover as they could find, but the 
musket was tightly grasped, for each man well knew that this storm of canister 
and shell was but the pi'elude to a yet more deadly shock of infantry." When 
this artillerjr slackened, the Confederate infantry were seen forming on the 
edge of the woods — a part in double line of battle, and a part in column by battal- 
ions. 

This attacking force numbered over fifteen thousand men, and it advanced over 
the intervening plain of near a mile, "in such compact and imposing order that 
none who saw it could refrain," says this writer, "from admiration of its mag- 
nificent array. " "In crossing that plain it received a severe fire from our artillery, 
but this did not delay for a moment its determined advance." The Union force 
held itself braced to receive the impact. It came on within musket range, when 
our forces opened a most destructive fire, and repeated it in rapid succession. 
This first shock revealed the unequal metal of the assaulting mass, and shortly, 
when came the feu cVEnfer, or the decisive volleys, there ran through the rebel 
ranks the cry " The Army of the Potomac!" 

Such was the momentum of the assault, that the force fairly thrust itself within 
Hancock's lines. A large number of this force were taken prisoners, and many 
stands of colors fell into our hands. 

But when the swift advancing, yelling forces of Pickett rushed upon and over 
our stone wall breastwork and crowned it with their standards, "Hancock," 
writes Swinton, " who the day before had turned the fortuue of the battle, in a 
similar emergency, again displayed those qualities of cool appreciation and quick 
action, which had proved him one of the foremost commanders on the field of 
battle. " He quickly drew and formed a bulwark of troops from all the regiments 
on the scene of this assault against the further advance of the exultant enemy, 
and men and commanders of all these brigades moved so rapidly with an hon- 
orable ambition to cover the point penetrated, that in regular formations the 
line would have stood four ranks deep." 

"Whatever valor could do, says the same writer, to wrest victory from the jaws 
of defeat, must be conceded to the troops of Pickett, but seeing themselves in a 
desperate strait, they threw themselves on the ground to escape our hot fire, and 
threw up their hands in token of surrender, or sought safety in flight. 



16 

The aggregate of Hancock's captures in this action was 4,500 prisoners, and 27 
stands of colors. Two of the rebel brigade commanders fell, fourteen field of- 
ficers were left on the battle ground, and of the rank and file three-fourths were 
dead or captured. At the close of the battle Hancock received a ball in his 
body and lay on the field severely wounded. 

Lee's only alternative now was retreat. Thus ended these three days terrible 
conflict, with a lost to the Union army in killed, wounded and missing of over 
23,000, and of the Confederate army upwards of 30,000 men. 

This account could not well be abbreviated to show with what intellectual 
strength, and masterly skill in the science of war, with what true patriotism, 
with what valor and conspicuous modesty under the chief commander, Hancock, 
with the favor of Divine Providence, was, in this great contest a signal instru- 
ment in saving the Union cause. 

WOtTNDED AND ESf HIS FATHER'S HOME IN MORRI8TOWN. 

He was sent from the battle field to his home on a stretcher. The citizens 
flocked around him, while he was met by a detachment of the Invalid Guards who 
tenderly bore him through the streets. The inhabitants were deeply moved at the 
sight, seeing his prostrate form and not knowing the extent of his wounds. The 
doors and windows were crowded, and tears of sympathy fell as he was silently 
taken to his father's house. Here he was tenderly nursed, the ball was extracted, 
and the wound, though extremely painful, gradually began to heal. As he gained 
strength his fellow citizens bore him many testimonials of personal friendship. 
They took immediate steps to testify their appreciation of his signal services to 
the country. A service of gold and silver plate of nine pieces was presented, with 
the inscription, "From the citizens of his birthplace, " and on each piece was en- 
graved the Trefoil, or three-leaved clover, the badge of his Second Army Coips. 
This was a costly and beautiful testimonial of their warm regard. 

WITH HIS FAMILY IN MISSOURI. 

As soon as possible he reached his wife and children at Longwood, near St. 
Louis, Mo., and under date of Oct. 12th, wrote his father as follows: 

I threw aside mj' crutches a few da3'S after my arrival and now walk with a cane. I am improv 
mg, but do not j'et walk without a little "roll." Mj' wound is still unhealed, although the doctors 
say it is closing rapidly. I find some uneasiness in sitting long on a chair, and cannot yet ride. 
The bone appears to be injured and may give me trouble for a long time. I hope, however, I may 
be well enough in two weeks to join my corps. 

I am busy in trimming up the forest trees in the lawn of Longwood, whicn covers nearly eleven 
acres. I know it is not the best time; but still it will do. 

Alice and the children send their best love to you and mother. Please give my best love to 
mother, and I remain, as ever, Yonr affectionate son, 

WiNFiELD S. Hancock. 

This letter shows the true man as he is, affectionate, tender and reverent to all 
that is sacred and beautiful in domestic life. This phase of his character was 
always predominant in his tender care and feeling for the wounded in hospitals or 
on the field, while on the battle field he was consummate in valor, swift in action, 
and great in his clear comprehension of all the perilous duties of the hour, how- 
ever grave or momentous. 



17 



RECRTJITrNG CORPS OP 30,000 AND 50,000 MEN. AND WITH GRANT IN THE CAMPAIGN 
• TO RIClOrOND — MEADE AND GRANTS TESTIMONY. 

In December, 1863, he reported at Washington for duty, and was commissioned 
to recruit the 2d Army Corps to 30,000 men. His appeals to the people in 
this duty, were marked by great personal modesty, but with ardent patriotism, 
setting forth the urgent necessity of an immense foi*ce, to close the war at once, 
and save the continued sacrifice of precious lives. He was met with ovations of 
the gratitude and esteem of the people wherever he went — in Ilarrisburg, Phila- 
delphia, New York, Albany and Boston. His mission was crowned with success. 

In March, 1864, he reported for active duty, and resumed command of the 2d 
Army Corps. This was just before the Army of the Patomac set out on its mem- 
orable campaign under the immediate orders of Gen. Grant, on the 3d of May. 

Notwithstanding the effects of his wound still remained, and at one period of 
this campaign, compelled him to lay suffering ten days in his tent, when a piece 
of bone was extracted, he distinguisged himself by prodigies of valor, and great 
and effective deeds to the end. His great actions during this campaign were 
most marked at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, 
Petersburg (during the battle and siege in front of that city), Deep Bottom, 
Reams Station and Boydton Road. 

His promptness and celerity is a feature of his army career that cannot fail to 
arrest attention, and this is a marked feature of his character in all the business of 
life. An army officer said of him : "If he was ordered to move at thirty minutes 
past four in the morning, at thirty -one minutes he was in motion. His attacks 
when ordered or resolved upon were alike prompt. In a short period from the 
time he moved he has often fought and won the field. His men and officers were 
so accustomed to his rapid movements, that long lines of battle responded to his 
call very promptly and rapidly. His lines were always well in hand, and his 
commanders responded with the same promptness. This was one of the secrets of 
his power as a great general." 

General Meade said of him, " No Commanding General ever had a better lieu- 
tenant than Hancock; he was always faithful and reliable." And General Grant 
said, "I always knew where to find Hancock." 

In this as in other campaigns, he was always at the front. At Spottsylvania, 
May 12th, he assaulted the enemy at daylight in his entrenched lines, with 2d corps, 
20,000 men, carried them by storm, captured thirty pieces of artillery and an en- 
tire division of four thousand five hundred men, after one of the bloodiest and 
severest battles of the war, continuing twenty hours without cessation ; one of 
the most brilliant achievements of all our campaigns. 

On the 26th of November, 1864, Gen. Hancock was detached from the army of 
the Potomac and ordered to Washington. As there were a large number of 
veteran soldiers in the country whose term, of service had expired, it was deemed 
important to raise a corps of veterans alone, fifty thousand strong. For this re- 
sponsible work President Lincoln selected Hancock as the chief veteran of the 



18 

general officers of the army. He was commissioued to recruit it in the shortest 
possible time , and the old soldiers flocked to his standard. 

IN COMMAND IN THE SHENANDOAH. 

He was then ordered to the command of the Middle Military Division head- 
quarters at Winchester, Va. This division embraced the departments of West 
Virginia, Pennsylvania and Washington, including the army of the Shenandoah, 
nearly one hundred thousand men of all arms. It was under orders to be ready 
to march at a few hours' notice to co-operate with Gen. Grant or Gen. Sherman, 
as the exigency should demand. By the surrender of Lee's lines before Peters- 
burg this was never required. 

THE ASSASSINATION AND MRS. SURRATT. 

His headquarters were still in the valley of the Shenandoah in April, I860, 
when the conspiracy against the President and his Cabinet was consummated. 
Lincoln was assasinated and Seward desperately wounded. The country was 
panic striken by the deep laid plot to destroy the government by secret assassina- 
tion. The Northern people were never so shaken and unnerved by the severest 
disasters in the field, as on that dreadful Friday, April 12th, 1865. A feeling of uni- 
versal fear, distrust and poignant grief pervaded the nation. Hancock was at once 
summoned to Washington. When his presence at the capital was known, by 
telegraph, over the country, men said to each other, " Thank God, a man is in 
Washington now, who can be trusted in any emergency." 

By order of President Johnson he remained till after the trial and execution 
of the conspirators. A military commission, ordered by tlie President, tried, 
found guilty and condemned some of the prisoners to death. It was to be 
lamented that one of the condemned was a woman. The execution was ordered 
for the 7th of July. When on that morning a writ of habeas corpus was pro- 
cured for Mrs. Surratt, served on Gen. Hancock, as comnander of the military 
division, and President Johnson suspended it, Gen. Hancock then gave 
every facility to Mrs. Surratt's daughter to obtain the President's reprieve, her 
only hope, and to make sure that his own action be on the side of mercy, placed 
mounted sentinels between the White House and the place of execution, that if 
the reprieve came at the last moment it should go swiftly and surely to the con- 
demned. 

HIS CIVIL SERVICE — THE CONDITION OP THE SOUTH AT THE TIME. 

The war closed, the first object and duty of the government was to bring back 
the states which had seceded, to their normal relations to the general government. 
To do this wisely, free from mercenary and partisan motives, with magnanimity 
of the North toward the South, without in any sense compromising the principle 
for which the immense sacrifice of so many precious lives had been made, was the 
great problem. The more radical of the ablest statesmen of the North, favored 
the plan of bringing back these states as territories, but wiser counsels prevailed, 
and a method was devised, by which the states were to be brought back under cer- 
tain prescribed conditions of loyalty, with their original constitutions and mechan- 
ism of government. To meet these conditions of reconstruction, the states were 



19 

divided into Military Districts, each to be governed by a military officer, 
upon whom was conferred full power to govern by the use of the mili- 
tary arm, or with power to give effect to the local laws and civil regulations of 
the state, as he, in his discretion might find it wise and prudent. 

These were the historic facts and conditions under wh ich Gen. Hancock as- 
sumed command of the Fifth Military District, Department of the Gulf, compris- 
ing Louisiana and Texas, on the 29th November, 1867. 

He had the power to remove civil magistrates, to suppress local tribunals, to 
establish military commissions and to suspend the operation of the civil laws. 
Under the reconstruction law of Congress, he became the absolute ruler of these 
two states. 

What, then, was the condition of the people, and what were the prejudices he 
was called to meet? The Confederate government had been overthrown. The mil- 
itary power of the South had been destroyed. He found, as was natural with this 
conquered people, much hostile feeling toward the government at Washington ; 
still greater hostility toward many of these rulers, their representatives and agents, 
who had come in with their appointments and organizations to override or change 
the local tribunals in order to emphasize as the first act in reconstruction, the prin- 
ciples of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments. However just these principles 
and certain to prevail in the end as an integral part of the Constitution, it was not 
wise or magnanimous to antagonize a people upon the sorest point, in the first act 
of restoring government. When to this was added much extravagance and pecu- 
lation, increasing greatly the burdens of taxation, this hostility was often vented 
through reckless leaders and secret organizations. Could this bitter feeling, shown 
openly by some, and suppressed by others, ever be softened or changed by contin- 
uing a military government, unless these states were to be held as provinces 
under military law and the state governments and laws totally abjured. 

He must govern by one power or the other. Gen. Hancock felt and clearly 
comprehended that to subordinate the military to the civil power, even under all 
these conditions of hostility, was the government most in accordance with the 
principles of the constitution, was right in principle and best calculated to soften, 
and in time to destroy this hostility. 

ORDER 40. — ITS CHARACTER. 

On that day, taking command of the Fifth Military District, he issued the 
following order : 

Headquarters, Fifth Military District, ) 
New Orleans, La., Nov. 39, 1867. ] 
General Order, No. 40. 

I. In accordance with General Order No. 81, Washington, D. C, Major-General W. 
S. Hancock hereby assumes command of the fifth military district and of the department 
composed of the states of Louisiana and Texas. 

II. The general commanding is gratified to learn that peace and quiet reign in this 
department. It will be his purpose to preserve this condition of things. As a means to 
this great end, he regards the maintenance of the civil authorities in the faithful execu- 
tion of the laws as the most efficient under existing circumstances. 

In war it is indispensable to repel force by force, and overthrow and destroy opposi- 
tion to lawful authority, but when insurrectionary force has been overthrown and peace 
established and the civil authorities are ready and willing to perform their duties, the 
military power should cease to lead, and the civil administration resume its natural and 



20 

rightful dominion. Solemnly impressed with these views, the general announces that 
the great principles of American liberty are still the lawful inheritance of this people, 
and ever should be. The right of trial by jury, the habeas corpus, the liberty of the 
press, the freedom of speech^ the natural rigidts of persons and the rights of property 
must be preserved. 

Free institutions, while they are essential to the prosperity and happiness of the peo- 
ple, always furnish the strongest inducements to peace and order. Crimes and offences 
committed in this district must be referred to the consideration and Judgment of the 
regular civil tribunals, and those tribunals will be supported in their lawful jurisdic- 
tion. 

Should there be violation of existing laws which are not inquired into by the civil 
magistrates, or should failures in the administration of justice by the courts be com- 
plained of, the cases will be reported to these headquarters, when such orders will be 
made as may be deemed necessary. 

While the General thus indicates his purpose to respect the liberties of the people, 
he wishes all to understand that armed insurrection or forcible resistance to the law will 
be instantly suppressed by arms. 

By command of 

Major-General W. S. HANCOCK. 



There is remarkable clearnesss aud ability in the order iu which it sets 
forth the principles tliat are the inalienable inheritance of the people, and the 
course of action which would give them or deprive them of tlieir full enjoy- 
ment. 

ITS PARALLEL WITH ENGLISH AND OUR OWN CONSTITUTION. 

It goes back to first principles, which were embodied iu the Magna Charta, 
wliich the English barons wrung from King John in the meadow of Runnymede, 
iu 1215, and which four hundred years later, the Parliament forced from Charles 
the First in 1628, called the Right of Petition. " These formed the strong foun- 
dations and steadfast bulwark of English liberty. " * 

The origin of our Democratic form of government grew out of the abuse ot 
the supreme power iu the hands of the Monarch. After a series of struggles by 
the people during our colonial period there came first the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, then our Constitution, framed in 1787, whicliwas modeled in part upon 
the principles embodied in the Magna Charta and Right of Petition. Tlie British 
Constitution was the result of concessions made by the successive monarchs for 
centuries, which grew out of tlie slowly growing sense of personal rights, of jus- 
tice and humanity in the hearts of the people, and the omnipotent pressure of 
public opinion upon kings and nobles. 

But the British Constitution was never ratified as a whole by the people, while 
ours was formally ratified as a government for the people and by the people. 

And what is constitutional law in our own free country, but the structure and 
mechanism of the government, and the appointment, duties and powers of its 
officers ? This also includes the Constitution of the several states and the mechan- 
ism of their governments. If, therefore, the constitutions of the Southern states 
were not wholly abrogated by the reconstruction laws of Congress, which was not 

* Rov. R. S. Storrs, D.D., In his eloquent Centennial oration before the city autliorities of New 
York, July 4th, 1876, mvc a graphic picture of the brilliant assemblage of nobles and barons in 
Runnymede when the Magna Charta was conceded by King John, and of the great gathering of 
still greater historic men in 1628, when the monarch conceded the Right of Petition, and forcibly 
contrasts and marks the parallel between these great historic assemblages with the men who gath- 
ered to adopt our Declaration of Independence, and afterwards to frame the Constitution in 1787.— 
J. amphlet, A. F. Randolph, New York. 



21 

intended, then Gen. Hancock's order was eminently sound and eminently wise, 
and the most politic and effective measure to soften hostility and bring back the 
old fraternal feeling for the Union of the states. It had its effect, and is now si- 
lently working in the minds and hearts of the people throughout the nation, to 
mark him as a leader among men, who, in the high office of President, will 
harmonize the antagonism of sections, and bring us as one people to love and re- 
spect all the guarantees of the Constitution. 

His letter to Governor Pease, dated March 9, 1868, from which the following 
extracts are made, shows conclusively how clearly he understood and how strongly 
he grasped all the great principles of constitutional government. As a keen an- 
alysis of the situation, and a lucid discussion of the varied state and national 
questions which grew out of it, shows General Hancock to be, a man of great 
ability in civil affairs as well as military. 

Thiswas in reply to the solicitatiou of Governor Pease, to establish a mili- 
tary commission for tiie trial of criminals in that state. No citizen can read it 
without being impressed with the soundness of his principles, his firmness and 
independence of character, and the excellency of his judgment. 



HEADQUARTERS FIFTH MILITARY DISTRICT, 

New Orleans, La., March 9, 1868. 
To His Excellency E. M. Pease, Governor of Texas: 

Your statement that the act of Congress " to provide for the more efficient government 
of the rebel states," declares that whatever government existed in i'exas was provisional ; 
that peace and order should be enforced ; that Texas should be part of the Fifth Military 
District, and subject to military power ; that the President should appoint an officer to 
command in said district, and detail a force to protect the rights of person and property, 
suppress insurrection and violence, and punish offenders, either by military commission, 
or through the action of local civil tribunals, as in his judgment might seem best, will 
not be disputed. One need only read the act to perceive it contains such provisions. 
But how all this is supposed to have made it my duty to order the military commission 
requested, you have entirely failed to show. The power to do a thing if shown, and the 
propriety of doing it, are often very different matters. You observe you are at a loss to 
understand how a government, without representation in Congress, or a militia force, 
and subject to military power, can be said to be in the full exercise of all its proper 
powers. You do not reflect that this government, created or permitted by Congress, 
has all the powers which the act intends, and may fully exercise them accordingly. If 
you think it ought to have more i^owers, should be allowed to send members to Con- 
gress, wield a militia force, and possess yet other powers, your complaint is not to be 
preferred agaiutt me, but against Congress, who made it what it is. 

As respects the issue between us, any question as to what Congress ought to have 
done has no pertinence. You admit the act of Congress authorizes me to try an offender 
by military commission, or allow the local civil tribunals to try, as I shall deem best ; 
and you cannot deny the act expressly recognizes such local civil tribunals as legal 
authorities for the purpose specified. When you contend there are no legal local tribu- 
nals for any purpose in Texas, you must either deny the plain reading of the act of Con- 
gress or the power of Congress to pass the act. 

You next remark that you dissent from my declaration, " that the country (Texas) is 
in a state of profound peace," and proceed to state the grounds of your dissent. They 
appear to me not a little extraordinary. I quote your words : " It is true there no longer 
exists here (Texas) any organized resistance to the authority of the United States." 
''But a large majority of the white population who participated in the late rebellion, are 
embittered against the Government, and yield to it an unwilling obedience." Never- 
theless, you concede they do jield it obedience. You proceed : 

" None of this class have any affection for the Government, and very few any respect 
for it. They regard the legislation of Congress on the subject of reconstruction as uncon- 
stitutional and hostile to their interests, and consider the government now existing here 
under authority of the United States as an usurpation uu their rights. They look on the 



22 

emancipation of their late slaves and the disfranchisement of a portion of their own class 
as an act of insult and oppression." 

And this is all you have to present for proof that war and not peace prevails in Texas ; 
and hence it becomes my duty — so you suppose — to set aside the local civil tribunals, and 
enforce the penal code against citizens by means of military commissions. 

My dear sir, I am not a lawyer, nor has it been my business, as it may have been yours, 
to study the philosophy of statecraft and politics. But I may lay claim, after au experi- 
ence of more than half a lifetime, to some poor knowledge of men, and some appreciation 
of what is necessary to social order and happiness. And for the future of our common 
country, I could devoutly wish that no gi-eat number of our people have yet fallen in 
with the views you appear to entertain. Woe be to us whenever it shall come to pass 
that the power of the magistrate— civil or military— is permitted to deal with the mere 
opinions or feelings of the people. 

I have been accustomed to believe that sentiments of respect or disrespect, and feelings 
of affection, love, or hatred, so long as not developed into acts in violation of law, were 
matters wholly beyond the punitory power of human tribunals. 

When a boy I remember to have read a speech of Lord Chatham, delivered in Parlia- 
ment. It was during our Revolutionary War, and related to the policy of employing the 
savages on the side of Britain. You may be more familiar with the speech than lam. 
If I am not greatly mistaken, his lordship denounced the British government — his gov- 
ernment—in terms of unmeasured bitterness. He characterized its policy as revolting to 
every sentiment of humanity and religion ; proclaimed it covered with disgrace, and 
vented his eternal abhorrence of it and its measures. It may, I think, be safely asserted 
that a majority of th i British nation concurred in the views of Lord Chatham. But who- 
ever supposed that profound peace was not existing in that kingdom, or that govern- 
ment had any authority to question the absolute right of the opposition to express their 
objections to the propriety of the king's measures in any words, or to aay extent they 
pleased ? It would be ditficult to show that tlie opponents of the Government in the 
days of the elder Adams, or Jefferson, or Jackson, exhibited for it either " affection " or 
"respect." You are conversant with the history of our past parties and political strug- 
gles touching legislation on alienage, sedition, the embargo, national banks, our wars 
with England and Mexico, and cannot be ignorant of the fact that for one party to assert 
that a law or system of legishition is unconstitutional, oppressive, and usurpative, is not 
a new thing in' the United States. That the people of Texas consider acts of Congress 
unconstitutional, oppressive, or insulting to them, is of no consequence to the matter in 
hand. The President of the United States has announced his opinion that these acts of 
Congress are unconstitutional. The Supreme Court, as you are aware, not long ago 
decided unanimously that a certain military commission was unconstitutional. Our peo- 
ple everywhere, in every state, without reference to the side they took during the rebel- 
lion, differ as to the constitutionality of these acts of Congress. How the matter really 
is, neither you nor I may dogmatically affirm. 

If you deem them constitutional laws, and beneficial to the country, you not only have 
the right to publish your opinions, but it might be your bounden duty as a citizen to do 
so. Not less is it the privilege and duty of any and every citizen, wherever residing, to 
publish his opinion freely and fearlessly on this and every question which he thinks con- 
cerns his interest. This is merely in accordance with the principles of our free govern- 
ment ; and neither you nor I would wish to live under any other. It is time now, at the 
end of almost two years from the close of the war, we should begin to recollect what 
manner of people we are ; to tolerate ag.ain free, popular discussion, and extend some 
forbearance and consideration to opposing views. The maxims that in all intellectual 
contests truth is mighty, and must prevail, and that error is harmless whea reason is left 
free to combat it, are not only sound, but salutary. It is a poor compliment to the merits 
of such a cause, that its advocates would silence opposition by force; and generally those 
only who are in the wrong will resort to this ungenerous meaus. I am courtdeut you will 
not commit your serious judgment to the proposition that any amount of discussion, 
or any sort of opinions, however unwise in your judgment, or any assertion or 
feeling, however resentful or bitter, not resulting in a breach of law, can 
furnish justification for your denial that profound peace exists in Texas. You 
might as well deny that profound peace exists in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, 
California, Ohio and Kentucky, where a majority of the people differ with a minority ou 
these questions; or that profound peace exists in the House of Representatives, or the 
Senate, at Washington, or in the Supreme Court, where all these questions have been 
repeatedly discussed, and parties respectfully and patiently heard. You next complain 
that in parts of the state (Texas) it is difficult to enforce the criminal laws ; that sheriffs 
fail to arrest ; that grand jurors will not always indict; that in some cases the military, 
acting in aid of the civil authorities, have not been able to execute the process of the 
courts ; that petit jurors have acquitted persons adjudged guilty by you; and that other 



23 

persons charged with offenses have broke jail and fled from prosecution. I know not how 
these things arc; but admitting your representations literally true, if for such reasons 1 
should set aside the local civil tribunals and order a military commissiou, there is no 
place in the United States where it might not be done with equal propriety. There is 
not a .state ia the Union — North or South — where the like facts are not continually hap- 
pening. Perfectiou is not to be predicted of man or his work.s. No one cau reasonably 
expect certain aud absolute justice in human trausactions; and if military j)on'cr is to be 
set in motion, on the principles for which you would seem to contend, L fear that a civil 
government, regulated by laws, could have no abiding place beneath the circuit of the 
sun. It is rather more thaa hinted in your letter, that there is no local State govern- 
ment in Texas, and no local laws outside of the acts of Congress, which I ought to 
respect; and that I should undertake to protect the rights of persons and property- iu mij 
own way and in an arbitral y manner. If such be your meaning, I am compelled to differ 
with you. After the abolition of slavery (an event which I hope no one now regrets), 
the laws of Louisiana and Texas existing prior to the rebellion, and not in conflict with 
the acts of Congress, comprised a vast system of jurisprudence, both civil aud criminal. 
It required not volumes only, but libraries to contain them. They laid down principles 
and precedents for ascertaining the rights and adjusting the controversies of mea iu 
every conceivable case. They were the creations of great and good and learned men, 
who had labored in their day for their kind, and gone down to the grave long before our 
recent troubles, leaving their works an inestimable legacy to the human race. These 
laws, as I am informed, connected the civilization of past and present ages, and testified 
of the justice, wisdom, humanity and patrioMsm of more than one nation, through whose 
records they descended to the present people of these States. I am satisfied, from repie- 
sentations of persons competent to judge, they are as perfect a system of laws as may b^ 
found elsewhere, and better suited than any other to the condition of this people, for by 
them they have long been governed. Why shinild it be supposed Congress has abolished 
these laws ? Why should any one wish to abolish them ? They have committed no trea- 
son, nor are hostile to the United States, nor countenance crime, nor favor injustice. On 
them, as on a foundation of rock, reposes almost the entire superstructure of social 
order in these two states. Annul this code of local laws, and there would be no longer 
any rights, either of person or property, here. Abolish the local civil tribunals made to 
execute them, and you would virtually annul the laws, except in reference to the very 
few cases cognizable in the federal courts. Let us, for a moment, suppose the whole 
local civil code annulled, and that I am left, as commander of the Fif .,h Military District, 
the sole fountain of law and justice. This is the position in which you would place me. 

I am now to protect all rights and redress all wrongs. How is it possible for me to do 
it ? Innumerable questions arise, of which I am not only ignorant, but to the solution 
of which a military court is entirely unfitted. One would establish a will, another a deed; 
or the question is one of succession, or partnership, or descent, or trust, a suit of eject- 
ment or claim to chattels; or the application may relate to robbery, theft, arson or mur- 
der. How am I to take the first step in any such matter V If I turn to the acts of Con- 
gress I find nothing on the subject. I dare not open the authors on the local code, for 
it has ceased to exfst. 

And you tell me that in this perplexing condition I am to furnish, by dint of my own 
hasty and crude judgment, the legislation demanded by the vast and manifold interests 
of the people ! I repeat, sir, that you, and not Congress, are responsible for the mon- 
strous suggestion that there are no local laws or institutions here to be respected by me, 
outside the acts of Congress. I say unhesitatingly, if it were possible that Congress 
should pass an act abolishing the local codes for Louisiana aud Texas— which I do not 
believe— and it should fall to my lot to supply their place with something of my own, I 
do not see how I could do better than follow the laws in force here prior to the rebellion, 
excepting whatevci- therein shall relate lo slavery. Power may destroy the forms, but 
not the principles of justice; these will live in spite even of the sword. History tells us 
that the Roman pandects were lost for a long period among the rubbish that war and 
revolution had heaped upon them, but at length were dug out of the ruins— again to be 
regarded as a precious treasure. 

You are pleased to state that "since the publication of (my.) general orders No. 40 
there has been a perceptible increase of crime and manifestations of hostile feeling 
toward the Governmeut and its supporters," and adi that it is "an unpleasant duty to 
give such a recital of the condition of the country." 

You will permit me to say that I deem it impossible the first of these statements can 
be true, and that I do very greatly doubt the correctness of the second. * * * 
But what was order No. 40, and how could it have the effect you attribute to it '! It 
sets forth that "the great principles of American liberty are still the inheritance of this 
people and ever should be, that the right of trial by jury, the habeas corpus, the liberty 
of the press, the freedom of speech, and the natural rights of persons and property must 



24 

be preserved." Will you question the truth of these declarations ? Which one of these 
jireat principles of liberty are you ready to deny and repudiate ? Whoever does so avows 
himself the enemy of human "liberty and the advocate of despotism. Was thi-re any 
intimation in general oider No. 40 that any crimes or breaches of law would be coun- 
tenanced? You know that there was not. On the contrary, you know perfectly well 
that while "the consideration of crime and offences committed in the Fifth Military 
District was referred to the judgment of the regular civil tribunals," a pledge was given 
in order No. 40, which all understood, that tribunals would be supported in their lawful 
jurisdiction, and that "forcible resistance to law would be instantly suppressed by 
arms." You will not aihrm that this pledge has ever been forfeited. There has not 
becD a moment since I hiive been in command of the Fifth District, when thi; whole 
military force in my hands has not been ready to support the civil authoi'ities of Texas 
in the execution of the laws. And I am unwilling to believe they would refuse to call 
for aid if they needed it. 

There are some coi^siderations which, it seems to me, should cause you to hesitate 
before indulging in wholesale censures against the civil authorities of Texas. You are 
yourself the chief of these authorities, not elected by the people, but created by the 
"military. Not long after you had thus come into office, all the judges of the Supreme 
Court of Texas — five in number — were removed from office, and new appointments 
made; twelve of the seventeen district judges were removed, and others appointed. 
County officers, more or less, in sevent' -five out of one hundred and twenty-eight coun- 
ties, were removed, and others appointed in their places. It is fair to conclude that the 
executive and judicial civil functionaries in Texas are the persons whom you desired to 
fill the offices. It is proper to mention, also, that none but registered citizens, and only 
those who could take the test oath, have been allowed to serve as jurors during your ad- 
ministration. Now, it is against this local government, created by military power prior 
to my coming here, and so composd of your personal and i)olitical friends, "that you have 
preferred the most grievous complaints. It is of them that you have asserted they will 
not do their duty ; they will not maintain justice; will not arrest offenders; will not 
punish crimes ; and that out of one hundred homicides committed in the last twelve 
months, not over ten arrests have been made ; and by means of such gross disregard of 
duty, you declared that neither property nor life is safe in Texas. 

Certainly you could have said nothing more to the discredit of the officials who are 
now in office. 

That there has not been a perfect administration of justice in Texas I am not prepared 
to deny. 

That there has been no such Avanton disregard of duty on the part of officials as you 
allege, I am well satisfied. ********* 

I have found little else in your letter but indications of temper, lashed into excite- 
ment by causes which I deem mostly imaginary, a great confidence in the accuracy of 
your own opinions, and an intolerance of the opinions of others, a desire to punish the 
thoughts and feelings of those who differ fiom you, and an impatience which magnifies 
the shortcomings of officials who are perhaps as earnest and conscientious in the dis- 
charge of their duties as yourself, and a most unsound conclusion that while any per- 
sons are to be found wanting in affecti; n or respect for government, or yielding it 
obedience from motives which you do not approve, Avar and not peace is the status, and 
all such persons are the proper subjects for military and penal jurisdiction. 
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

W. S. HANCOCK, 
Majoi'-General Commanding. 

IIANCOOCK ox THE PRESIDENTIAL QUESTION IN 18TG. 

Gen. Hancock, while at Carondolet, Mo., late in the autumn of 1876, after the 
election and during the excitement before the appointment of the Electoral 
Commission, in a private letter to Gen. Sherman, wliicli he had no thought 
would ever appear in print, very freely gave his views upon the relations of 
the army (or military force) to the Presidential question. Since his nomination, 
a false representation of this letter having been set afloat to his injury, the 
text of it has been published. It does him great honor and creditfor its sim- 
plicity, directness, and cogency of statement of the whole question. 



25 

The points in tliiit letter wliich sliow liis easy grasp of tlic metliod of tle- 
termining tlie Presideatial election as provided by the Constitution, and of 
many of the great principles coming within the scope of the duties of the 
President, are admirably given by Senator Bayard, of Delaware. Coming 
from a statesman of such eminence, known probity, ability and impartiality, 
his opinion forms the fairest and strongest commentary upon Gen. Hancock's 
eminent fitness for the high office of President. 

bayard's testimony. 

This letter, says Mr. Baj'ard, exhibits Ila'.ieock, the patriot and soldier, writing out his 
unpremeditated views upon a grave political crisis. The letter was called out by re- 
peated letters from his military superior. He did uot origiuate the correspondence, as 
the opening sentences show. To appreciate its full force and meaning you must have 
seen and known as I did what was then goiug on in Washington and at the \Var Depart- 
ment. Troops, even then, under Cameron's inspiration and with President Grant's ap- 
proval, were being moved towards Washington. The array bad overthrown already the 
Louisiana election. Florida and South Carolina had suiTeretl the same fate, and the 
work only remained to be consummated at Washington in February by a repetition on 
a national scale of the frauds committed in New Orleans and elsewhere in November. 

This letter will dispose forever of the pretense that he is a mere soldier, a man with 
no ideas concerning politics and civil government. He has as distinct views concerning 
public affairs as any man I know, and he gives expression to some of them in this very 
letter with a simplicity and directness that make his presentation of his views as sti-ong 
as any made by any man on these subjects before Congress or the Electoral Commission 
during the pendency of the electoral dispute. 

Having given the constitutional questions connected with the election of President 
and Vice-President and the control of the two houses of Congress over the election much 
thougiit and study, I must freely confess that General Hancock has emphasized in his 
letter the true meaning of the Constitution in such a way and with such force as to give 
me new and strong, 'r light upon the subject. He presents with great clearness the 
idea of the separate tlejiosits of power in tlie House of Representatives and in the Sen- 
ate in the case of the inability of the two houses in joint session to unite in a declara- 
tion that a majority of the electoral votes have been delivered for any candidate. In 
that case the duty of choosing a President immediately devolves on tlie House of Re- 
presentatives, voting; by states, while the duty of choosing a Vice-President devolves on 
the Senate. This line of separate action is continued in analog}^ by the separate power 
given the Senate aloLe to elect as President its own presiding officer in the event of 
the death of the Pres dent and Vice-President. In that election the House of Represent- 
atives has no voice. 

Mr. Bayard said his visit to General Hancock, though he had often met the General 
before, his recent conversation had impressed him more stronglj- than ever with his 
knowledge and correct judgment of public affairs. '"Anybody," he said, " who imag- 
ines that Hancock will depend on some one else for his ideas of civil administration will 
have to surrender that opinion on reading this admirable letter, written out in Missouri, 
where he had uot even the aid of a clerk. "Furthermore, Generl Hancock has 
in this letter presented the great issue raised by the fraud of 1876, to the American 
people, with the force which really belongs to it and divested of all that may have 
tended to weaken or obscure it. It is an issue we should never lose sight of. For 
our country cannot with safety endure a repetition of such grave wrongs "as were suc- 
cessfully perpetrated in 1877. General Hancock's letter is in the highest sense a state 
paper, though not intended to be one. It is devoid of the formalities which attach to 
official communications, but it deals with a most difficult problem of constitutional pow- 
ers with wonderful clearness and force. The man who shall hereafter deny to Hancock 
the meed of having ably dealt, and in a high spirit of patriotic statesman.ship, with the 
most serious and difficult crisis in our recent historv, will stultifv himself." 



26 

HIS FITNESS — PARALLEL WITH JOHN HANCOCK. 

Looking back over his life — tlie studious liabits of liis youth; his filial reverence 
for a noble father and a devout and watchful mother; his conscientious applica- 
tion to study ; his efficiency in the discharge of his early military duties ; his dis- 
regard of self, and the clear, quick, bold action of his mind, and his grand cour- 
age in the extreme peril of battle; his strong grasp of great principles, and domi- 
nant sense of justice when called into the civil service; the patriotic ardor, which 
seems born in him, and which has so strikingly shone out in all his career; his 
quick discernment of character, and his magnetic power to inspire and control 
masses of men and not least, his cool judgment and sound common sense; these 
qualities prove General Hancock to be more highly qualified than almost any other 
among his peers to lead back the civil administration of the government to the 
purity and honesty of its founders. These are not words of fulsome praise. They 
only characterize truthfully, the qualities of the man and the deeds of his life. 

There is a striking similarity in many of the elements of character in John 
Hancock, the patriot of 1776, and the soldier Hancock of 1880. There is also a 
beautiful parallel, when closely examined, in their self-consecration to the country 
in its hour of need. 

John Hancock's father and grandfather were devoit ministers of the Gospel, 
who were near the people, and entered into their feelings of resistance to oppres- 
sion. His father died, and left him in infancy to be reared by an affectionate pa- 
ternal uncle — a Boston merchant, who educated him at Harvard and trained him 
afterwards in his counting-room. From thence he sent him on a business mission 
to England, where he saw the people and the Parliament, and witnessed the fune- 
ral of George II, and the coronation of George III. This uncle died, leaving him 
a princely fortune at the age of twenty six. He had imbibed the spirit of liberty 
from infancy, and now relinquished all commercial pursuits to devote himself to 
the interests of the nation, which he did from this time onward to the end of his 
life in 1793. This consecration was in 1761, only four years before Parliament 
enacted the odious Stamp Act. It received the signature of the king, March 37, 
1765. This act contained fifty-five sections, and imposed stamp duties upon as many 
classes of legal and business documents, and certificates of institutions of learning, 
from three pence (six cents) up to three pounds (fifteen dollars) each. As a re- 
taliation, Hancock first proposed non-importation, and was bold and active in the 
scenes connected witli the Boston Massacre and the Tea Riot. He was first a 
member of the Provincial Assembly, then of its Executive Council, then President 
of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, then member of the Continental 
Congress in 1774, and its President in 1775 and 1776. For nearly ten years he 
boldly resisted these oppressive acts of taxation without representation, till the 
sentiment of resistance burst into a flame of revolution. 

As President of the Congress, on the morning of July 4, 1776, he gave his bold 
signature, to the Declaration of Independence, the only signature on that day, and 
with his name alone it went forth to the world. It was engrosed upon the Journal 
of Congress, and on the 2d of August signed by all the fifty-six, but one. 

Not less boldly, and with not less of patriotic ardor, did Winfield Scott Han- 



27 

cock, when troasoii aad war were proclaUnei against the Uuioii, again and again 
peril his life \o s ive it. There is a significant parallel between the temperament, 
the decisive action, purity of motive and patriotic spirit of the two men. The 
one wrought so grandly in founding the Union and freedom of the states; the 
other fought so bravely and effectively to preserve that Union when it was periled, 
upon the gage of battle. The patriot died in his fifty-fifth year, devoting twenty- 
nine years to the cause of liberty, while the subject of this sketch has already 
given thirty-six years of service to his country. 

Hancock's letter of acceptance is a document of singular ability and 
strength. No letter of its class, since the election of Andrew Jackson, has sur- 
passed or equalled it in pure, terse style; in force of reasoning, and lofty patri- 
otism. Leaving all minor and partisan issues, it deals in trenchant words, with 
logical acumen, directly with the principles of constitutional government, and the 
practical methods of .securing all its inestimable benefits to the whole people, ir- 
respective of race or condition. It rises, as did the founders of the government a 
hundred years ago, in all the essentials of honest administration and pure civil 
service above the mercenary conditions of mere party supremacy, to a government 
for the people and by the people as the true source of political power. 

GREAT MEN DEVELOPED BY WARS. 

His Order 40, on assuming the post of military governor of Louisiana and 
Texas, and his letter of acceptance, absolutely refute the allegation that he is 
only a military officer in education and experience. 

In long periods of peace, men, great in the professions, in commerce, and 
trade, or in civil affairs, are brought to the front. So in periods of war, and es- 
pecially in great foreign wars, or in a great contest like that waged to divide or 
destroy the Union, great minds are developed by military exigencies and brought 
into prominence, whose early training and later experience fit them to be eminent 
statesmen as well as great soldiers. This was pre-eminently so with Washington 
and Jackson. As in war, so in peace, the elements of greatness were developed by 
the great events which they were called, in the order of an overruling Provi- 
dence, to shape and control. 

In Hancock, the key-note of his rising strength and his magnetic power over 
men in military service, was struck at Williamsburg and culminated at Gettys- 
burg, in the most brilliant and memorable service of the war, in his endurance, 
his grand courage, his self-abnegation and his trust in Providence, as with mas- 
terly tactics and wonderful endurance he stood for three terrible days — he and 
the army he inspired — against an onset of the rebel force as great in skill, as sub- 
lime in courage, as was ever met in the war. He came out desperately wounded 
but with lasting victory for the Union and the country. 

GREAT ADVANCE OP THE COUNTRY— NEW DE.MANDS UPON THE LEGISLATIVE POWER. 

We have just entered upon a new century and epoch in the history of the gov- 
ernment. The vast expanse of territory now embraced in the thirty-two states 
of the Union and the territories was, much of it, fifty years ago, a wilderness 



28 

with sparse population. Communication was slow and infrequent. The telegraph, 
railroad, and trans Atlantic cable have wrought changes which the most fertile 
imagination could never have foreseen. New inventions, the rapid multiplication 
of labor-saving machines, the vast increase of our manufacturing and agricultu- 
ral industries, and the discovery of untold mineral wealth have increased pro- 
duction, and the demand for tra'isportation of persons, material, and products, 
to colossal proportions. These great changes, and an immense foreigu imtnigra- 
tion, coming to occupy and cultivate the soil, and the necessity of a tenfold 
monetary circulation have entirely changed the requirements of the legislative 
power both in the states and national government. Added to this, the increase 
of the patronage of the government to 100,000 office-holders, and the desire to 
continue in power, and all these new conditions of the country will be found to 
have multiplied tenfold tlie opportunities for mercenary greed alike in office, in 
trade, and in commerce. 

It is therefore of gravest importance to the country, to elect to the office of 
President in this crisis, a man of the honesty, tirmnebs, ability, and wisdom of 
General Hancock, who, with moderation and prudence, will strive in his admin- 
istration to harmonize all the conflicting interests of the nation, who will never 
consent to be President solely of a party, but of the whole body of the people, 
and will seek to unite us again in fraternal regard as we are one in wealth and 
power. 



H.\NCOCK S METHOD AND PROMPTNESS IN BUSINESS — HIS HOME LIFE — PERSONAL. 

BEARING. 

General Hancock is a man of great promptness and method in business. He 
has a remarkable capacity for dispatch. "Whatever demands attention is not de- 
ferred but done on the day. The work of each day and week is completed, if pos- 
sible, not put over. Whether it be correspondence, or the routine of the day, it 
is done with the greatest expedition. 

He has a most forgiving disposition, great patience, and great persistence in 
whatever he undertakes. These qualities of patience, persistence, promptness, 
and dispatch are sought in those who come under his command. 

General Hancock's household is a type of the cultivated, refined, and happy Amer- 
ican home. While resident in St. Louis, he married Miss Almira Russell, the ac- 
complished daughter of Samuel Russell, a prominent merchant of that city. He 
has had two children, a son and a daughter; — Russell Hancock and Ada Elizabeth 
Hancock, a very beautiful and cultivated young lady, who died in March, 1875, at 
the age of eighteen, to whom the General was greatly attached, and whose memory 
is most tenderly cherished. His son, Russell Hancock (the eldest), is married and 
has three children. In this attractive circle of wife, children, and grandchildren, 
he finds his best hours when the cares of the day are ended. In his family he is 
devoted, kind, and generous, delighting in the society of family and friends. The 
social hour is made bright by his full mind, and his genial intelligent way of enter- 
taining. He is the life of this circle. 

General Hancock is about six feet in height, of fine proportions, an erect figure, 
a bearing of quiet dignity and modesty, and an easy gracefulness of manner pleas- 



29 

ing to all classes. He is always thoroughly self-possessed, has a quick insight into> 
character, and a calm decision, which would give him great tact and strength in 
meeting without offense the pressure of constant claims which are always made 
upon the presidential office. 



THE RELATION OF THE STATES TO THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT. — HANCOCK'S 
FITNESS TO PRESERVE IT. 

Amid the fierce partisan conflicts of the day, the writing and speaking for 
effect, without due regard to the plainest truths of history, whoever calmly 
'iurveys the condition of the country in its robust and rapid advancement 
10 i»^-^alth and power, cannot fail to have seen with anxiety, in these later years, 
the swelling tide of corruption — in various forms of combination to deplete the' 
treasury — in subsidies and special legislation, the results of which tend constantly 
to the centralization of power in the national government. It is important, there- 
fore, to put into the presidential office a man who has given special evidence of 
his aptitude for the study, and of his knowledge of constitutional law, as General 
Hancock has in his brief government of Louisiana and Texas. He gave there 
undoubted evidence that he clearly understood the relations of the national to the 
state governments, and if ever brought into the position to impose the veto upon 
unwise legislation, he would do it with sound discrimination of the limitations 
of the constitution to the legislative power ; and his administrative acts would 
also firmly respect the rights of the states in the undisturbed regulation of their 
own internal affairs. 

As we expand in organized states and population, that just balance of power 
between the national and state governments which our forefathers so earnestly 
sought to give in the constitution, is one of the most important guarantees of the 
safety of the Union. Hancock, in his civil service, displayed not only a thorough 
knowledge of this constitution, decision and firmness of will, but a conservative,, 
strong common sense, which affords always an absolute guaranty against rash 
or extreme action. 



THE THIRTEENTH, FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTI- 
TUTION HELD INVIOLABLE BY HANCOCK. 

The strong partisan opposition to Gen. Hancock will give way when it is seen, 
in the light of sober facts, how utterly groundless are the allegations that, if 
elected, he will be the president of a dominant party, and not of the whole peo- 
ple ; tliat "a solid South" will rule, and claim the payment of its own debt, in- 
curred by its acts of rebellion. 

To these and other groundless assertions it is only necessary to interpose the 
simple history. The magnanimity and practical decision of the closing 
words of Hancock's speech at Los Angelos in 1861 have been emphasized by 
every act of his subsequent career. " We will welcome you back, he said, as 
brothers ; we will help you to redress your wrongs; but the priceless inheritance 
of the Union we will defend to the last extremity." 



30 

The XlVth amendment to the constitution, one of the results of the war, was 
declared ratified by thirty of the states of the Union on the 28th of July, 1868. 
Among the states ratifying it were North and South Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, 
Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and Virginia. The fourth section of this amendment 
reads as follows : 

" Sec. 4. Tlie validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by 
law, including debts incurred for the payment of pensions and bounties for 
services in suppressing the rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the 
United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred 
in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claims for the 
loss or emancipation of any slave, but all such debts, obligations and claims 
shall be held illegal and void." 

Gen. Hancock, in the opening words of his letter of acceptance of the nomina- 
tion, says ; 

"The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution of 
the United Ststes embodying the results of the war for the Union are inviolable- 
If called to the presidency, I should deem it my duty to resist with all my power 
any sittempt to impair or evade the full force and effect of the constitution, which 
in every article, section and amendment is the supreme law of the land." 

No words can add to the frankness and force of this pledge. To deny its 
efficacy is to question the truth of the historic facts here quoted, and is unjust to 
the people of these states, south and north, which have ratilied this amend- 
ment. 

HANCOCK WILL HARMONIZE, NOT ANTAGONIZE. 

The rebellion against the Union has been conquered at the cost of an immense 
sacrifice of precious life of both the north and the south. Slavery, the chief 
occasion of this war, has passed forever away. It can never be restored. The 
moral sentiment of the world is omnipotent against.it, and the south, accord 
with the issue, and would not restore it if they could. The guarantees of an 
amended constitution are founded in the sentiment of the rights of the 
colored race, and that the expense incurred in the attempt to sever the Union must 
be a total loss to those who took up arms against it. The majority of these states 
have ratified these amendments and accepted their terrible loss, and the irretrieva- 
ble suffering of an impoverished laud. 

They behold a new life and new power in the increase of capital and immi- 
gration, and in the revival, beyond all former times, of rapidly growing agricultu- 
ral and manufacturing industries. 

The great west is outstripping the south, the north and the east in its colossal 
growth, and it is idle to say longer a solid south can and will rule. It is a tale of 
partisan tiction, which common sense and historic facts destroy. 

Is it wise or just, then, to longer antagonize the south in the process of recon- 
struction, or forever to doubt the sincerity of their acceptance of the guarantees of 
t>-e Constitution, and, however hard and grievous to their feelings, the results of 
the war? 

If then we hope for and really desire to go back to that union and fraternal 



feeling which the common privations of the Colonial period, and the common 
struggles and sufferings of the Revolution brought uein 1776, we have in General 
Hancock a man whose dispassionate temperament and e en^euts of character 
especially qualify him for this great service. Every independent voter and every 
voter who desires the best man for the country may safely cast his ballot for 
Hancock. 

By a social life of stainless purity, by a military record of the highest and 
most brilliant order, he has passed into a niche of fame in the science of war, 
which history will ever hold secure, and if elected President he will as faithfully 
and magnanimously administer under the broad aegis of the Constitution the 
government for all sections of the country and for the good of all the people. 

After the lapse of the first and the auspicious opening of the second century of 
our existence, as a Union of free people, how stand we to day as a nation, under 
our advancement in greatness and power, in the clear, distinct acceptance of 
those principles which lie at the foundation of republican government, and in 
our relations and obligations to the cause of freedom throughout the world? 
We have advanced from the small territory of thirteen original states on the first 
census in 1790 of less than 800,000 square miles inhabited by about three 
millions of people, to a vast peopled area of nearly 3,000,000 of square miles 
embracing thirty eight states and eight territories and, by the tenth census in 
progress, with fifty millions of inhabitants. In this colossal growth, while the 
constant tide of immigration from all nations of the old world has come in to 
share our blessings, and to enrich us by their toil, we have preserved, and shall 
ever preserve in our government and society the distinctive characteristics of the 
American people. 

These were interwoven with, and indelibly stamped in form and spirit upon 
the very texture of the government, and will be transmitted, let us hope, through 
all time by maintaining that beneficent balance of power, between the States- 
and the General government, which the great minds of its founders exhausted their 
best and richest thought to give. Among the foremost of these were Washington, 
Jefferson, Sherman, Franklin, Hamilton, Livingston, Madison, Morris, Carroll, 
Rutledge, Mifflin and the Pinckneys. 

The importance and value of that just balance has been again and again eluci- 
dated and confirmed by the Websters, the Clays, the Wrights, and others of later 
time, to the generation which has arisen and now administer it. 

It was this pivotal power which General Hancock sought to uphold and en- 
force in his administration at New Orleans in 1867 and 1868. In the spirit of 
these founders, if elected, he will begin, we believe, a new evangelism of har- 
mony and peace. 

The moral sentiment is the basis of all true greatness. The moral and vir- 
tuous sentiments of the American people, and the idea of personal consecration 
and self sacrifice in a great cause, as Hancock gave himself to the cause of the 
Union, are stronger and more inspiring sentiments here, than in any other people 
of the civilized nations. 

This moral sentiment, and justice and magnanimity toward all sections, 
would control the administration of Hancock and mark a new era in the history 
of our country. 



